As Seen in Vanity Fair's August 2006 Issue!
As Seen in US News & World Report's September 11 Fifth Anniversary Issue!
As Seen in Time Magazine's September 11, 2006 Issue!
As Seen in Phoenix New Times' August 9, 2007 Issue!

Sunday, March 25, 2007

Welcome to the Nuthouse, Mr Cuban

If you ever wonder why the 9-11 Denial movement seems to be one step up and two steps back, just check out the paranoia that is greeting the news that Mark Cuban's talking about distributing Loose Change.

Once again, copyright holders are trying to unmask who uploaded a potentially infringing video clip to YouTube.

This time it's Magnolia Pictures, a film distributor owned by Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner, the billionaire co-founders of Broadcast.com. Magnolia released the Academy Award-nominated documentary Enron: Smartest Guys in the Room, which has a bad habit of appearing on video-sharing sites.

Hence the subpoena to Google, which a federal court in Texas issued on Tuesday. It asks for information on how to identify the person who uploaded three videos (two on Google Video and one on YouTube).

On YouTube, at least, the username of the uploader is "halifaxion," who seems to focus on uploading video clips airing alternative explanations of what happened to the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

i for one will lose alot of respect for you guys should this happen. i'll also be a lot more likely to beleive the allegations of being disinfo and also that you're in it for the money now. your response to this would be appreciated.

As usual, they believe that Dylan's got a lot of negotiating power with Cuban:

And as some people have pointed out, if you get US (we are all in this together) a wide theatrical release and a prominent place on DVD rental shelves, and allow us the ability to legally make copies of the DVD, then I say that would be a good trade off to a poor quality Google Video on the Internet. In fact, keeping it OFF Google Video will be helpful to the release. But in purchasing the DVD, people I think need to be given the legal right to make copies for wider dissemination.. Mark Cuban's firm of course would be opposed to that. By playing them off of someone else who's interested, you'll get what you want, and be able to close the deal, and as you realize, a deal needs to be closed ASAP now.

do you do your job better informed or ignorant? last i checked you were pro information. does it not bother you at all that magnolia had halifaxion run off google and youtube and ifilm? cuban claims it was done as an exercise in seeing how the system works, if so, couldn't a different target be chosen? it would take you just as long to address the questions as it does to dismiss them.

Submitted by LUCUS on Sat, 03/24/2007:"...I don't know if I trust this guy and he may be trying to steal the copy license so he can limit the exposure to the film.REMEMBER MARK CUBAN JUST HAD HALIFAXION SUED FOR UPLOADING 9/11 VIDEOS ON YOUTUBE..."

Submitted by JJJames on Sat, 03/24/2007"...You do have a point.... If Mark Cuban does get the distribution rights he can keep this off of the internet..."

Submitted by Jon Gold on Sat, 03/24/2007"...If Mark Cuban funds a debunking movie by Popular Mechanics, than Bill O'Reilly should fund a new investigation...."

Submitted by waitew on Sat, 03/24/2007"...This Mark Cuban guy has sued the most prolithic 911 truther on YouTube & now hundreds of 911 truth videos that were there aren't,and you're wondering if we can trust him!!.."

Submitted by CattleRustler on Sat, 03/24/2007"...There is valid reason to NOT trust Cuban in this deal...."

Submitted by Mike Anti-Neo-Con on Sat, 03/24/2007"...I do approach Mark Cuban with skepticism..."

Submitted by Danse on Sat, 03/24/2007"...listening to Cuban on O'Reilly he sounds like a complete shill. He bends over backwards for the official story...."

Submitted by Phaedrus on Sat, 03/24/2007"...Let's hope the financing has nothing to do with distribution. My head hurts. Being stoopid is so much easier..."

5 Comments:

Ha! And check out his Wikipedia entry - he's already got two (two!) semi-literate sections explaining how he's distributing Loose Change Final Cut, as well as a category tag "Individuals Questioning The Official Account Of 9/11", despite the fact that he doesn't seem to personally believe the stuff Avery's peddling.

Why spend money to distribute the piece of shit if he doesn't subscribe to the views of the fruitcakes.

To make money. It's a rather common motivation in the film world.

My guess is that someone pitched Cuban on the idea that this destined-for-greatness amateur conspiracy movie is looking for a distributor deal. I suspect he doesn't know everything about who he's getting into bed with. But he's about to find out.

To be fair on Cuban, he's got a track record of representing different points of view to his own. To give an example, he says his personal politics are heavily influenced by Ayn Rand, but he also distributed Good Night, and Good Luck, by George 'Possibly-Not-An-Objectivist' Clooney.

So based on past form I do think it's possible, if not confirmed, that he doesn't believe Loose Change's claims. As triterope suggests, I just think he doesn't know quite what he's getting into here, and hasn't considered the slippery-slope issues of distributing a documentary which even its creators are starting to admit is pretty much full of crap.